Wake-Up Call: King for a day

Both Governor Bill Ritter and Lieutenant Governor Barbara O'Brien were out of town yesterday (he to the Western Governors' Association meeting in Utah, she to an education confab in North Carolina). And who did that leave in charge? By the Colorado Constitution, the State Senate President. But Brandon Shaffer, who...

By Patricia Calhoun

June 16, 2009

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Both Governor Bill Ritter and Lieutenant Governor Barbara O'Brien were out of town yesterday (he to the Western Governors' Association meeting in Utah, she to an education confab in North Carolina). And who did that leave in charge?

By the Colorado Constitution, the State Senate President. But Brandon Shaffer, who won that post after Peter Groff resigned near the end of the session, didn't have a chance to pardon anyone or do anything very quasi-gubernatorial during his reign of error. Unless you count answering calls from the Denver Post's Lynn Bartels and apologizing for his $4,300, two-day team-building retreat for Democratic leaders last week, which Republicans argue should have been funded by the Democratic caucus, not taxpayers.

Go, team!

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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